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 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,16 2019 - tech 
AMD Readies 50th Anniversary Special Edition Ryzen 7 2700X - tech
(hx) 10:00 AM CEST - Apr,16 2019 - Post a comment / read (2)
AMD is celebrating its 50th Anniversary with a new commemorative special edition package of the Ryzen 7 2700X eight-core desktop processor. This package carries the PIB SKU number "YD270XBGAFA50." American online retailer ShopBLT had it listed for USD $340.95 before pulling the listing down and marking it "out of stock." The listing doesn't come with any pictures or details about the SKU, except mentioning that a Wraith Prism RGB CPU cooler is included (as it normally is for the 2700X PIB package). Given that AMD hasn't changed the model number, we expect these processors to have the same specifications as regular Ryzen 7 2700X, but with some special packaging material, and perhaps some special laser engraving on the processor's IHS. AMD has used tin boxes in the past for its first FX-series processors, so the possibility of something similar cannot be ruled out. Since pricing of this SKU isn't significantly higher, we don't expect it to be of a higher bin (better overclockers) than regular 2700X chips. Based on the 12 nm "Pinnacle Ridge" silicon, the 2700X is an 8-core/16-thread processor derived from the "Zen+" architecture, with 3.70 GHz clock-speed, 4.30 GHz maximum Precision Boost, XFR, L2 cache of 512 KB per core, and 16 MB of shared L3 cache.
 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,11 2019 - tech
NVIDIA Also Releases Tech Demos for RTX - tech
(hx) 10:22 PM CEST - Apr,11 2019 - Post a comment / read (4)
NVIDIA has released the Game Ready Driver 425.31 WHQL which enables ray tracing for GeForce GTX graphics cards - a capability previously reserved for the company's RTX series of graphics cards. This change "enables millions more gamers with GeForce GTX GPUs to experience ray tracing for the first time ever", as the list of DXR-capable graphics cards from NVIDIA has grown considerably as of today. In addition to the driver release which enables the visual goodies associated with real-time ray tracing, NVIDIA has also released a trio of tech demos on GeForce.com which you can freely download to check out ray tracing first hand on GTX and RTX graphics cards. Not only will these demos give you a taste of what you might expect from games that incorporate DXR features, but like any good demo they will help users get a sense of how their system might handle these effects.



The Star Wars tech demo is the most well known, certainly, with its studies on reflections on Captain Phasma's breastplate. Atomic Heart is another one that makes use of RTX for reflections and shadows, while Justice adds caustics to that equation. If you have a Turing graphics card, you can test these demos in their full glory, with added DLSS for improved performance. If you're on Pascal, you won't have that performance-enhancing mode available, and will have to slog it through software computations.
NVIDIA GeForce 425.31 WHQL driver adds DXR - tech
(hx) 04:51 PM CEST - Apr,11 2019 - Post a comment / read (5)
NVIDIA today released the year's most important GeForce driver update, version 425.31 WHQL. The drivers enable DirectX Raytracing (DXR) API support for GeForce GTX 1660 Ti, GTX 1660, GTX 1080 Ti, GTX 1080, GTX 1070 Ti, GTX 1070, and GTX 1060 6 GB, in addition to TITAN graphics cards based on the "Pascal" and "Volta" architectures. The DXR workload is executed by the CUDA cores entirely, which makes these GPUs significantly slower than NVIDIA's RTX 20-series chips that have dedicated hardware such as RT cores and tensor cores. We've detailed this in our special article. In addition these drivers add Game Ready optimization for "Anno 1800," and fix a number of issues listed below.
Fixed Issues in this Release
  • With SLI enabled, artifacts may appear in Adobe applications.
  • Fixed random crashes on GeForce RTX 20 series GPUs.
  • The game crashes when accessing the inventory menu.
  • Blue-screen crash occurs randomly with Bad Pool error during gameplay.
  • Artifacts appear when Texture Filtering is set to High Quality in the NVIDIA Control Panel.
  • Applications crash when using the Fabfilter plugin.
  • Fixed corrupted graphics in games on ASUS ROG Strix GL702VS notebooks.
  • With Stereo enabled, OUT of Memory message appears when launching the application.
AOC Readying New AGON 353-series - 4K HDR 1000 Gaming - tech
(hx) 04:46 PM CEST - Apr,11 2019 - Post a comment / read (2)
AOC is readying the next generation of their enthusiast-gaming AGON line. The 353 series supersedes the 352 series launched in February last year, and keeps the 35" diagonal of its previous iteration. The specs are up there with the best available for what a VA panel can offer: 4K resolution, 1000 nits peak brightness in HDR mode, 1 ms (MTRT response time, or a rated 4 ms GtG) and a 200 Hz maximum refresh rate with support for AMD's FreeSync 2 or NIDIA's G-Sync HDR. There's also 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, if color accuracy is a must. The AGON 353-series will be available in two models, for either AMD FreeSync 2 or NVIDIA G-SyncHDR certification. AG353UCG featuring NVIDIA's G-Sync HDR as well as another one supporting AMD's FreeSync 2 HDR. The G-Sync HDR version, however, will be carrying a 512-zone full array local dimming for increased contrast. Connectors include HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, and a four port USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) HUB. The NVIDIA G-Sync version is expected to launch around June this year; no word on the AMD equivalent. No word on pricing either, but don't expect these (particularly the NVIDIA one, with its full array local dimming) to come cheap.

Adobe Declares Shockwave Dead - tech
(hx) 04:27 PM CEST - Apr,11 2019 - Post a comment / read (2)
In an almost absolutely non-shocking move, Adobe has declared their Shockwave software plugin for accelerating web content to be going the way of the dodo when it comes to official support. The move follows the internet's advancement, where HTML5 and WebGL have superseded the usage of the proprietary Shockwave solution. A more open approach means there are a whole lot more players working on and paying attention to others' mistakes, and means there are a much higher number of developers working with the tools at any one timer than Adobe ever could dedicate engineers to. Following its statement on Shockwave being dead, Adobe pulled the downloads from their website, meaning that no additional versions or downloads of the software are coming from the company itself. Enterprise customers won't be left hanging, with a grace period of support from Adobe with new security updates for the remainder of their contracts. Current Shockwave-based content's future is unclear, but some content is bound to become inaccessible to most users.
 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,05 2019 - tech
No More Forced Updates in Windows 10 - tech
(hx) 10:03 PM CEST - Apr,05 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
One of the big no-nos for some users looking to upgrade do Windows 10 was the fact that Microsoft enforced constant, 6-month update cycles independent of whether users wanted them or not. This move was done to streamline the update process and keep all users at parity when it comes to important security and feature updates that Microsoft considered relevant. However, it seems Microsoft is now abandoning this practice, which means that users that like to know exactly what is being changed in their systems - and at a time of their convenience - now have one less reason to not upgrade. Not only will Windows no longer push updates inadvertently, now home users will also have the ability to not only pause updates, but also remove them. There's a caveat, though - you won't be able to postpone feature updates forever. As it stands, Microsoft has an 18 month "end of life" period for major Windows 10 versions, which means that after your 18 months of postponing updates are up, you PC will still update to the latest version

Additional improvements to put users more in control of updates that are being introduced with the May 2019 Update include:

  • Extended ability to pause updates for both feature and monthly updates. This extension ability is for all editions of Windows 10, including Home. Based on user feedback we know that any update can come at an inconvenient time, such as when a PC is needed for a big presentation. So, we’re making it possible for all users to pause both feature and monthly updates for up to 35 days (seven days at a time, up to five times). Once the 35-day pause period is reached, users will need to update their device before pausing again.
  • Intelligent active hours to avoid disruptive update restarts. The active hours feature, introduced in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, relies on a manually configured time range to avoid automatically installing updates and rebooting. Many users leave the active hours setting at its 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. default. To further enhance active hours, users will now have the option to let Windows Update intelligently adjust active hours based on their device-specific usage patterns.
  • Improved update orchestration to improve system responsiveness. This feature will improve system performance by intelligently coordinating Windows updates and Microsoft Store updates, so they occur when users are away from their devices to minimize disruptions.
Windows 10 Game Bar will add Spotify, Gallery and Memes - tech
(hx) 03:12 PM CEST - Apr,05 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
Today, Microsoft announced some new features that are coming to the Windows 10 Game Bar, which all Xbox Insiders can enable right now as long as they're on Windows 10 version 1809 or higher. First off, Spotify integration is coming, so you'll be able to stream your music while you play your games. In the widget menu on the Game Bar, you'll find an option for Spotify where you can sign in with your credentials. There's also a widget for adjusting the volume. You can also turn your screenshots into memes. You can take your screenshot with the Capture widget, add text to it in the Game Bar gallery, and share it to Twitter directly. Next, there's a new Xbox Social widget that allows you to see what your friends are up to, send them a message, and more. You can use the same features in the Xbox app for mobile platforms and for Windows 10. And finally, you can now customize the Game Bar to pin widgets, decide where you want them, and more. To access these features, go to the Xbox Insider Hub app on your PC, select Insider Content, and choose Windows Gaming.

 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,03 2019 - tech
PC Memory Prices in Free Fall, Time to Upgrade - tech
(hx) 08:19 AM CEST - Apr,03 2019 - Post a comment / read (2)
Prices of PC DDR4 memory modules are normalizing to 3-year lows as the pre-Summer PC upgrade season looms and several AAA game launches line up. 8 GB (2x 4 GB) dual-channel DDR4 memory kits have dropped to around USD $50 on popular PC component retailers such as Newegg, 16 GB (2x 8 GB) kits can be had for $80 at DDR4-2667 speeds. Premium 16 GB dual-channel kits (DDR4-3200 and above) start at $99. Premium 16 GB kits with RGB embellishments now typically start at $120. Perhaps the biggest news from these memory price drops come in the form of capacity. 32 GB dual-channel (2x 16 GB) memory kits now start for as little as $144, for a kit with two dual-rank DDR4-2667 modules. Premium 32 GB kits, with RGB lighting and speeds as high as DDR4-3000 now start at $180. HEDT builders also have reason to cheer, as 32 GB quad-channel (4x 8 GB) kits start for as little as $150, and premium kits with DDR4-3000 frequency can be had for as little as $184.
 Gameguru Mania News - Apr,02 2019 - tech
AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.4.1 Drivers - tech
(hx) 01:33 PM CEST - Apr,02 2019 - Post a comment
AMD today released their Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.4.1 Drivers. This beta release features no performance enhancements, and it also doesn't add any support for new games. Instead, it is centered around fixing various issues seen within AMD's software and a couple of games. The biggest of these fixes is the elimination of crashes and application hang in World of Warcraft with Patch 8.1.5 or later when using MSAA. They have also eliminated graphical corruption seen in World of Tanks when in-game settings are set to the minimum when using Radeon RX Vega graphics products. Considering how popular both of these titles are it is likely more than a few gamers will be quite happy with these fixes. AMD has made sure to note a few unresolved problems as well. The most annoying of which is likely going to be screen flicker with multiple displays at the desktop or with applications running on AMD's Radeon VII.
AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.4.1 Driver

Fixed Issues

  • AMD Radeon VII and Radeon RX Vega Series graphics products may experience system instability, or an intermittent system hang when three or more displays are connected and enabled at the same time.
  • World of Warcraft™ patch 8.1.5 or later may experience an intermittent crash or application hang when MSAA is enabled.
  • Mouse cursors may disappear or move out of the boundary of the top of a display on AMD Ryzen Mobile Processors with Radeon Vega Graphics.
  • Radeon WattMan auto overclock may fail to raise engine clocks past default levels on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products.
  • Vari-Bright changes may fail to apply on some AMD Ryzen™ Mobile Processors with Radeon™ Vega Graphics system configurations.
  • World of Tanks™ may experience intermittent graphical corruption when game settings are set to minimum on Radeon RX Vega series graphics products.
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,31 2019 - tech
TechNews - AirPower Is Dead - tech
(hx) 10:29 PM CEST - Mar,31 2019 - Post a comment
FYI, Today is World Backup Day - When Was Your Last Backup? ;-)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660, GDC And GTC Wrap-Up - In this episode of HotHardware's Two And Half Geeks, Marco, Chris, and Dave will be looking at NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1660, the sights and sounds of GDC and GTC which took place last week, Dell's Alienware Aurora R8 compact GeForce RTX-powered gaming PC, a fast new SSD from ADATA and more!
  • Galaxy Unveils HOF M.2 PCIe SSD with Heat-pipe Based Heatsink - High-end M.2 NVMe SSDs are beginning to come with integrated heatsinks as overheating controllers impact sustained performance. The latest such drive is a new edition of the Hall of Fame (HOF) M.2 PCIe series from Galaxy, which come with a chunky aluminium heatsink, only this one isn't just another hunk of metal. This heatsink uses a flattened copper heat pipe to pull heat from the drive's hot components and spread it evenly along both sides of the aluminium block.
  • Huawei P30 Pro vs Samsung S10 Plus vs iPhone XS Max Camera Comparo - 4K Camera Test - Huawei P30 Pro Camera vs Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus camera vs iPhone XS Max Camera - Testing Night Mode, 5 times Zoom, Quad Cameras, Portrait mode and more.
  • AirPods 2 Review: Should You Waste Your Money? - Apple quietly announced the AirPods 2 recently, but what has changed? From the outset, it seems that they are practically the same. Meaning that not much has changed, at least from a visual perspective, but what about the internals?
  • Apple's Lead Chip Designer Left the Company - CNET reported yesterday that Gerard Williams III, the company's senior director in platform architecture, left Apple in February after working there for nine years. Williams III led development of Apple processors from the A7, which debuted in the iPhone 5S in 2013, to the A12X used in the most recent iPad Pro models. CNET said Williams III initially led the design of custom CPU cores for Apple chips, then came to oversee the layout of the system-on-a-chip (SoC) itself. It's not clear how Williams III’s departure will affect Apple’s plans for its custom processors. He’s named on some 60 patents, CNET noted, but it would be a mistake to attribute the success of Apple’s chips to one person. The question is how the team supporting Williams III will respond to him leaving.
  • AirPower Is Dead - Some sources have specified overheating problems on the AirPower ultimately responsible for the axing of the project. The AirPower mat, which allegedly utilised a multi-coil design to accommodate charging of up to three Apple products placed haphazardly on its surface, seemed to defy all laws of physics when announced. For reference, current wireless charging technology requires a coil in the charger to align with a coil in the device in order for the charger magnetically induce a current in the device wirelessly. Most chargers only have a single coil, which means users have to align their device somewhat accurately for efficient charging to take place. Other larger wireless charging mats that accommodate multiple devices usually feature up to three coils, but Apple aimed to reinvent the technology to allow you to toss your gadgets without having to align them accurately. This was rumoured to be achieved with up to 20-30 wireless charging coils packed on the mat – plenty of current to generate a whole load of heat.
  • Samsung counters Galaxy Fold screen creasing rumours - Recently a video of a Samsung Galaxy Fold F900U AT&T surfaced on the internet and it appeared to show evidence of an unsightly crease or seam in the display which may have been folded/unfolded quite a few times. From this stems what you might call Samsung's pre-release crease-gate. Would you be happy with a tablet sized display featuring such a visible crease when browsing images or watching videos, for example?
  • Intel Chipsets' Undocumented Feature Can Help Hackers Steal Data - Positive Technologies, a vulnerability assessment, compliance management and threat analysis solutions company, announced this week that it's discovered yet another undocumented feature in Intel's chipsets, after previously stumbling upon an undocumented mode developed by Intel specifically for the NSA. The feature, Intel Visualization of Internal Signals Architecture (VISA), could allow attackers to gain the lowest-levels of access to Intel CPUs and any data being processed by those CPUs.
  • Critical WinRAR flaw exploited - In one campaign, according to a report published by researchers from security firm FireEye, attackers are spreading files that purport to contain stolen data. One file, titled leaks copy.rar, contains email addresses and passwords that were supposedly compromised in a breach. Attackers claim another file, cc.rar, contains stolen credit card data. Other files have names including zabugor.rar, ZabugorV.rar, Combolist.rar, Nulled2019.rar, and IT.rar.
  • Verizon Launches Free Robocall Filter - Verizon now offers a free version of its Call Filter service, which lets customers get alerts when a call is likely spam, report unsolicited numbers, and automatically block robocalls based on their preferred level of risk. The service was previously $3/month/line, although a premium version with additional features (such as advanced caller-ID and personal block list) is still available for the same price. Only post-paid wireless customers are eligible, and they must opt in to receive the service. Features vary slightly by device. T-Mobile already offers a similar service. Verizon also announced that it's making progress in implementing STIR/SHAKEN, a technology that securely authenticates caller-ID info to deter number spoofing. T-Mobile has already implemented STIR/SHAKEN and AT&T also recently announced progress in its implementation. STIR/SHAKEN is more effective the more telecom companies implement it. The FCC has publicly threatened to impose new regulations if the industry does not do more to address the issues of robocalling and number spoofing
  • Demo To Unlock Car With Phone Does... Not Go According To Plan - Why use easy reliable technology like keys or key fobs when you could, uh, use a phone that doesn't always work
  • STARFISH Official Trailer 2019 - A grieving young woman finds herself grappling with monsters from another dimension on what may well be the end of the world in Starfish, an atmospheric new film from UK director A.T. White. Can she work through her grief to piece together the elements of a mysterious signal that may be the key to averting the apocalypse?
  • SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK - Teaser Trailer - From the dark imaginations of Academy Award-winner Guillermo del Toro and acclaimed director Andre Avredal, based on the iconic book series, comes Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark - in theaters this summer. It's 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind...but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time-stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah's terrifying home.
  • 4K Falcon 9 video - SpaceX recently updated the Falcon 9 page of its website with a new video showcasing some of the rocket's recent launches and landings.
  • Top 10 Tech Pranks: Help colleagues grow closer with these practical IT jokes - They are one of those few things in life that most people can unequivocally agree on being great. Pranks are in the same league with cat videos, candy, and free stuff - everyone loves 'em. You're a tech-savvy individual, and it's time that your pranks showed that.
  • Sexy girls 2019, sea beach girl 2019, Sexy bikini TOP - Summer music 2019, Liquid Funk, mixed by Dj Deko
  • 10 Hottest moments from youtubers doing Bikini Try on & haul videos - Christina Khalil should be #1.
  • The best pics on the Internet #266 - All pictures are carefully handpicked
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,30 2019 - tech
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4K Benchmark RTX ON! - tech
(hx) 11:15 AM CET - Mar,30 2019 - Post a comment / read (3)
Thirty IR has shared a video showing two NVIDIA RTX Titan graphics cards in SLI running the built-in benchmark tool for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Nixxes has done an amazing job with its multi-GPU support and both of these GPUs were used to their fullest in DX12, even when the real-time ray tracing effects were enabled. These two powerful graphics cards were able to run the benchmark with more than 60fps (though there was a small drop to 55fps during the second scene). Still, we are talking about more than 60fps with real-time ray tracing in native 4K and on Ultra settings on hardware that already exists.

 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,27 2019 - tech
This Video Is Computer-Generated - tech
(hx) 10:31 AM CET - Mar,27 2019 - Post a comment / read (2)
This Unreal Engine 4-created clip uses photoscans to generate graphics in real time and the accuracy is astounding.

 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,26 2019 - tech
NVIDIA GeForce 419.67 WHQL driver - tech
(hx) 08:11 AM CET - Mar,26 2019 - Post a comment
After the oddity that was its GeForce 419.67 WHQL Creator Ready drivers, NVIDIA launched new GeForce drivers with the same 419.67 version number, but with "Game Ready" branding. It's now clear that Creator Ready is a fork of the GeForce software, released at a slightly lesser frequency, targeting creativity and productivity software that don't quite need Quadro feature-set or certifications. GeForce 419.67 WHQL Game Ready, on the other hand, add day-one optimization for "Battlefield V: Firestorm," a new update that brings the highly addictive Battle Royale gameplay mode to the Battlefield franchise. Optimization is also added or refined for "Anthem," "Shadow of the Tomb Raider," and "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice." NVIDIA expanded the list of Adaptive Sync monitors that are now capable of G-Sync. Among the bugs fixed are a performance drop noticed in DaVinci Resolve, overexposed brightness and color seen in "Far Cry: New Dawn" with HDR turned on; performance issues with "Total War: Warhammer 2" with AA turned on; artifacts seen in certain Adobe applications; screen corruption when switching display modes with HDR turned on in "Apex Legends," FOV reduction when recording with GeForce Experience; flickering noticed in "Star Citizen" followed by a CTD on "Turing" GPUs, abnormal time taken on GeForce GTX 980 responding to NVAPI calls; TITAN RTX overheating when enabling TCC mode via NVLink; and second monitor flickering with two monitors connected to an RTX 2070
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,23 2019 - tech
TechNews - Windows 7 Gets DirectX 12 - tech
(hx) 04:21 PM CET - Mar,23 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
  • Passively Cooling the Intel i9-9900K - Der8auer on YouTube has experimented with passively cooling an Intel i9-9900K with the ARCTIC Alpine 12; a passive CPU cooler. The ARCTIC Alpine 12 is only rated to handle 47 watts so Der8auer wasn't expecting much out of the unit. Although the passive cooler showed that it was more capable than its rating, it couldn't keep the Intel i9-9900K properly cooled at stock settings. The Intel chip was throttling, so Der8auer ended up with a stable 3.6 GHz clock speed across all cores which was more than capable of playing games on the system.
  • PCIe SSDs Will Overtake SATA in 2019 - A recent report from Digitimes claims that PCIe SSDs could finally overtake SATA SSD shipments in 2019. Unit prices for 512GB PCIe SSDs have supposedly fallen 11% sequentially, down to a price of $55 in Q1 2019, while SATA SSD prices only dropped 9%. The price gap between the different SSDs was around 30% in 2018, and according to the publication's market sources, that gap is only going to shrink as time goes on.
  • Sound BlasterX G6 Review - Audio Science Review has tested the Sound BlasterX G6 and found it to be surprisingly good for a budget device in a feature-filled package. During DAC testing it was discovered that the device's SINAD would rocket up to 112 dB if the level was dialed down by 2 dBFS (digitally.) Linearity was spot on but intermodulation distortion was a concern. Amirm discovered that dialing down the device by 2dBFS fixed the issue. He speculated that "The G6 is USB powered and likely doesn't have enough capacitance in its DC input to ride out the lasting peaks at low frequencies." The headphone amplifier measured great, and the output was decent but "there is no sensation of infinite power and you would be operating near or at max volume" when using the amp with a pair of Sennheiser HD-650 headphones. The last issue that irritated him was the lack of a properly working ASIO driver on Creative's website. He really liked the Sound BlasterX G6 and the review is full of charts and measurements conducted with a $28,300 Audio Precision APx555.
  • How PC Case Fans Are Made - PC case fan manufacturing is growing more advanced with automated production lines, but manual assembly is still involved. Learn more in our Deepcool fan factory tour in China... Deepcool has factories located in both Shenzhen, China and Dongguan, China. For this tour, we're focusing on the company's Shenzhen factory for its PC case fan manufacturing, where we show how fans are manufactured in China. This facility uses "robots" and automation for its assembly, with human oversight to ensure proper installation of bearings, blades, and more.
  • What Happens When You Water Cool an Air Cooler? -  What happens when you try to water cool and air cooling tower?
  • Windows 7 Gets DirectX 12 Support - Now here is a pleasant surprise. Microsoft has announced that it is bringing its latest API, DirectX 12, to Windows 7. Yeap, you read that right. Windows 7 now supports DX12 and the first game that can take advantage of it is World of Warcraft. Now while World of Warcraft can run via DX12 on Windows 7, Microsoft claims that the best DirectX 12 performance will always be on Windows 10, and that's because Windows 10 contains a number of OS optimizations designed to make DirectX 12 run even faster. AnandTech notes this all seems odd since under a year remains before Windows 7 hits its end-of-support date. Also odd is that though gamers have been clamoring for this for years, Microsoft says this move comes at this time because they "make every effort to respond to customer feedback."
  • Firefox Send Is a Free File Transfer Service Featuring Encryption - Mozilla has announced Firefox Send is now available for use as a free file transfer service with built-in end-to-end encryption. Send allows users to safely and simply share files from any browser without having to worry about their private information existing in the cloud. Send will be available as an Android app in beta later this week. Users can set when their file link expires, the number of downloads, and whether to add an optional password for an extra layer of security. Send allows for fast file transfers of up to 1GB with an option to transfer 2.5GB if users sign up for a free Firefox account. Recipients only have to click a link to download the file.
  • Opera Browser Adds Free VPN - The Opera web browser for Android now includes a free VPN service, for securing data over untrusted networks such as public Wi-Fi. Opera for Android version 51 includes the feature, which is activated with a simple toggle, requiring no sign-in nor account. Opera lets users choose from one of several VPN server locations around the world, and does not log user activity. Opera for Android also includes an ad blocker. The new Opera app is available now from the Play Store.
  • Microsoft Announces Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac - Microsoft Defender ATP for Mac brings the same robust protection from Windows Defender to the Mac platform. Microsoft has created a "cross-platform next-generation protection and endpoint detection and response coverage" heterogeneous solution that will help Microsoft reach its goal of securing users and data wherever they are. Core components of Microsoft's unified endpoint security platform, including the new Threat & Vulnerability Management will now be available for Mac devices. The cloud-delivered, real-time protection antivirus solution is currently in preview.
  • Apple Launches iMac With Coffee Lake and Vega - Apple updated its iMac lineup with 9th generation Intel processors and AMD Vega graphics. The 21.5 inch iMac now sports up to 6 cores, while the 27 inch iMac gets what's presumably a fully enabled 8-core Coffee Lake die. Apple also says they're they're offering "Radeon Pro Vega graphics" in both the 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs. The subtext reveals that the smaller iMac has an optional "Vega 20" graphics card, while the larger one features the long-rumored Radeon Pro Vega 48. It's not clear if we'll ever see desktop gaming versions of these Vega GPUs, but some people have already pointed out that smaller Vega GPUs could cut into sales for the recently-launched RX 590.
  • Apple announces new iPad Air and iPad mini with A12 Bionic, Pencil - Apple has announced a new iPad mini and a new iPad Air, both of which include the A12 Bionic chipset. The new iPad Air upgrades the display from 9.7 inches to 10.5 inches, and it sits beside the current iPad in the lineup, rather than replacing it. There are now four different lines of iPads, with the iPad at the entry level, the iPad Air and mini in the mid-range, and the iPad Pro for premium. Visually, the new iPad mini is identical to the iPad mini 4, which is three and a half years old. That device had an A8 processor, the same that could be found in the iPhone 6. The new iPad mini's A12 Bionic has massive performance improvements, and it also adds support for the Apple Pencil. Presumably, the new iPad Air is a successor to the iPad Air 2, although the branding here really doesn't make a lot of sense. If that's the case though, it's also replacing an A8 processor. While the entry level iPad already supports the Apple Pencil, the new iPad Air has Pencil and Smart Keyboard support, so this is really a valid replacement for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro that came out in mid-2017.  The iPad mini sports a 7.9-inch display with a 2048x1536 resolution for a 326ppi pixel density. It sports an eight-megapixel camera for 1080p video recording, along with a seven-megapixel front camera, with 1080p video recording at 30fps. Of course, it still has Touch ID, rather than the newer Face ID. The new iPad Air is very much the same, except the display is 10.5 inches and 2224x1668, for a 264ppi pixel density. What's particularly interesting about this announcement is that Apple is still holding an event in a week. With its hardware announcements out of the way, it seems that the company is actually going to focus on services, something that's new for Apple. Both devices come in Silver, Space Gray, and Gold, in Wi-Fi only and cellular variants, and 64GB and 256GB configurations. The new iPad mini starts at $399 while the new iPad Air starts at $499.
  • FB Employees Had Access to Millions of User Passwords in Plain Text - In a new blog post entitled "Keeping Passwords Secure" Facebook VP Engineering, Security and Privacy Pedro Canahuati explains how the social media giant accidentally stored Facebook user's passwords on internal data storage systems in plain text. Pedro explains how "these passwords were never visible to anyone outside of Facebook and we have found no evidence to date that anyone internally abused or improperly accessed them. We estimate that we will notify hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users, tens of millions of other Facebook users, and tens of thousands of Instagram users." To keep your account safe, Facebook suggests changing your Facebook and Instagram passwords, pick strong passwords, use a password manager, and enable a security key or two-factor authentication.
  • Apple Updates AirPods and Adds Wireless Charging Case Option - The new Apple AirPods have 50% battery life (talk time) and support "Hey Siri" voice commands to let users quickly change songs, make a call, adjust the volume or get directions. Apple also introduced an optional charging case that can be charged on any Qi-compatible wireless charging pad. The new AirPods are available today with the new wireless charging case for $199, or with the older standard case for $159. The wireless charging case is available separately for $79, for customers with existing AirPods. Apple is also now offering free personalized engraving on AirPods. The new AirPods and case are available online today, and in Apple Stores next week.
  • VRoamer Generates On-The-Fly VR Experiences While Walking Through Buildings - VRoamer is a new Microsoft Research project that generates VR worlds on-the-fly while users walk through unknown building environments. Players can wear their HMD and no longer have to rely on artificial locomotion techniques such as teleportation. They simply walk through their environment and the game is built around them. This is possible through the use of a wearable tech camera that scans the environment in front of the user and visualizes a playable virtual world. The system paints its virtual environment over real world objects such as doors. The system keeps the user safe from objects in the real world, even though those objects are hidden to the user
  • Changing Sketches into Photorealistic Masterpieces - A deep learning model developed by NVIDIA Research turns rough doodles into highly realistic scenes using generative adversarial networks (GANs). The tool is like a smart paintbrush, converting segmentation maps into lifelike images
  • DroneClash Recap 2019 - Highlights from DroneClash battles and event in Katwijk, Netherlands on March 16th 2019.
  • The Chemical Brothers - We've Got To Try - New album track We've Got To Try taken from The Chemical Brothers' forthcoming new album No Geography - Out April 12th!
  • Tetris on the Guitendo (99999 MAX OUT score + level 39 WR) - While the song starts soft and sweet, things take a face-melting turn around 1:10.
  • Pouring Lava Over Dry Ice - The dry ice chunks left a cool pattern on the lava.
  • Bird Gets Swallowed by Glory Hole in Northern California - LOL The filmer claims that the bird made it through alive and "shot out of there like a bullet" from the other end of the Lake Berryessa spillway.
  • TRY NOT TO LAUGH - EPIC FAILS Vines - Selection includes kids getting owned, trick shots gone wrong, home video bloopers, crashes caught on tape, stunts and more outtakes, viral videos and funniest moments caught on camera.
  • Kara Del Toro Is Amazing - She has potential to do great things!
  • Rachel Cook Could Be The Next Queen Of Instagram - I truly believe Rachel Cook could be the next Queen of Instagram!
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,22 2019 - tech
Audeze Mobius - The CRAZIEST Gaming Headset - tech
(hx) 10:21 PM CET - Mar,22 2019 - Post a comment / read (15)
The Audeze Mobius is supposed to be a gaming headset that will satisfy audiophiles with incredible planar magnetic drivers and 3D positional audio. It has literally every feature but it also costs $400. But if you have the money, this might be the best gaming headset available.

 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,21 2019 - tech
Chaos Physics and Destruction System Demo - tech
(hx) 10:57 AM CET - Mar,21 2019 - Post a comment / read (2)
Revealed onstage during the "State of Unreal," Chaos is Unreal Engine's new high-performance physics and destruction system coming in early access to Unreal Engine 4.23. The real-time tech demo is set within the world of Robo Recall. With Chaos, users can achieve cinematic-quality visuals in real time in scenes with massive-scale levels of destruction, with unprecedented artist control over content creation. In addition to the initial feature set, Epic will release demo content for Chaos physics and destruction within the 4.23 window.

 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,19 2019 - tech
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 has multiple versions! - tech
(hx) 10:03 PM CET - Mar,19 2019 - Post a comment
The fact that Nvidia can cram a 545mm^2 GPU into a low-power laptop at all is remarkable, and generally speaking, the RTX chips perform well in their relatively small power envelopes. But as the video points out, be careful if you're in the market for a gaming laptop, as the actual performance level of some RTX GPUs can be difficult to discern. Wonder how screwed must someone feel after upgrading from a GTX 1070 laptop to an RTX 2080 Max-Q one.?

Unity Engine Megacity tech demo - tech
(hx) 03:26 PM CET - Mar,19 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
Megacity contains 4.5 million mesh renderers, 5000 dynamic vehicles and 200,000 unique building objects. The vehicles fly on spline-based traffic lanes, never colliding, and there are 100,000 unique audio sources, including neon signs, air-conditioning fans, and cars.

 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,15 2019 - tech
Crytek demos realtime raytracing with Cryengine - tech
(hx) 07:54 PM CET - Mar,15 2019 - Post a comment
Crytek has released a new video demonstrating the results of a CRYENGINE research and development project. Neon Noir shows how real-time mesh ray-traced reflections and refractions can deliver highly realistic visuals for games. According to the press release, the Neon Noir demo was created with the new advanced version of CRYENGINE’s Total Illumination showcasing real time ray tracing. This feature will be added to CRYENGINE release roadmap in 2019, enabling developers around the world to build more immersive scenes, more easily, with a production-ready version of the feature.

This looks very interesting. The framerate isn't super high, but the effect itself is quite convincing.
AMD Releases Radeon Adrenalin Edition 19.3.2 Drivers - tech
(hx) 12:23 AM CET - Mar,15 2019 - Post a comment
AMD has released the latest version of their Radeon Adrenalin 2019 Drivers. Beta version 19.3.2 is a significant update as it delivers support for Tom Clancy's The Division 2 and Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm. AMD also claims up to 4% gain in regards to average performance on the Radeon VII when compared to the previously released 19.2.3 drivers. To go with the added game support and performance boost this release also supports DirectX 12 on Windows 7 for select titles. The Vulkan API also gets some love with this release with the addition of various extensions with the most notable one being the VK_EXT_depth_clip_enable extension which allows for depth clipping operations to be controlled by the application rather than the driver thus making it useful for Developers translating Direct3D content to the Vulkan API.
Support For
  • Tom Clancy's The Division 2
  • Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
  • Up to 4% average performance gains on AMD Radeon VII with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.3.2 vs 19.2.3.
  • DirectX 12 on Windows 7 for supported game titles
  • AMD is thrilled to help expand DirectX 12 adoption across a broader range of Windows operating systems with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 18.12.2 and onward, which enables consumers to experience exceptional levels of detail and performance in their games.
Fixed Issues
  • Radeon ReLive for VR may sometimes fail to install during Radeon Software installation.
  • Fan curve may fail to switch to manual mode after the manual toggle is switched when fan curve is still set to default behavior.
  • Changes made in Radeon WattMan settings via Radeon Overlay may sometimes not save or take effect once Radeon Overlay is closed.
Known Issues
  • Rainbow Six Siege may experience intermittent corruption or flickering on some game textures during gameplay.
  • DOTA 2 VR may experience stutter on some HMD devices when using the Vulkan API.
  • Mouse cursors may disappear or move out of the boundary of the top of a display on AMD Ryzen Mobile Processors with Radeon Vega Graphics.
  • Performance metrics overlay and Radeon WattMan gauges may experience inaccurate fluctuating readings on AMD Radeon VII.
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,13 2019 - tech
I spent a week in a VR headset, here's what happened - tech
(hx) 11:38 PM CET - Mar,13 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
Takes off glasses... "wow the graphics are so good"...:-D

Windows 7 Gets DirectX 12 Support - tech
(hx) 11:01 PM CET - Mar,13 2019 - Post a comment / read (3)
Now here is a pleasant surprise. Microsoft has announced that it is bringing its latest API, DirectX 12, to Windows 7. Yeap, you read that right. Windows 7 now supports DX12 and the first game that can take advantage of it is World of Warcraft. Now while World of Warcraft can run via DX12 on Windows 7, Microsoft claims that the best DirectX 12 performance will always be on Windows 10, and that’s because Windows 10 contains a number of OS optimizations designed to make DirectX 12 run even faster. AnandTech notes this all seems odd since under a year remains before Windows 7 hits its end-of-support date. Also odd is that though gamers have been clamoring for this for years, Microsoft says this move comes at this time because they "make every effort to respond to customer feedback."
Today’s announcement is a pretty big surprise on a number of levels. If Microsoft had wanted to back-port DX12 to Windows 7, you would have thought they’d have done it before Windows 7 entered its long-term servicing state. As it is, even free security patches for Windows 7 are set to end on January 14, 2020, which is well under a year away, and the company is actively trying to migrate users to Windows 10 to avoid having a huge swath of machines sitting in an unpatched state. In fact, they are about to add a pop-up notification to Windows 7 to let users know that they are running out of support very soon. So adding a big feature like DX12 now not only risks undermining their own efforts to migrate people away from Windows 7, but also adding a new feature well after Windows 7 entered long-term support. It’s just bizarre.

Now before you get too excited, this is currently only enabled for World of Warcraft; and indeed it's not slated to be a general-purpose solution like DX12 on Win10. Instead, Microsoft has stated that they are working with a few other developers to bring their DX12 games/backends to Windows 7 as well. As a consumer it’s great to see them supporting their product ten years after it launched, but with the entire OS being put out to pasture in nine months, it seems like an odd time to be dedicating resources to bringing it new features.

Microsoft does say that DX12 will offer more features on Windows 10, which makes sense since the graphics stack was designed for it right from the start, but if you do play World of Warcraft on Windows 7, you’re going to get a free performance boost. You may still want to look into getting off of Windows 7 soon though, since this isn’t going to move the January 2020 end-of-support date back for gamers.
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,12 2019 - tech
Windows 10 patch addresses the graphics & mouse performance - tech
(hx) 11:28 PM CET - Mar,12 2019 - Post a comment / read (3)
According to its official page, update KB4489899 fixes an issue that may degrade graphics and mouse performance with desktop gaming when playing certain games, such as Destiny 2, after installing KB4482887.

Furthermore, this update also resolves an issue that could cause users to receive "Error 1309" while installing or uninstalling certain types of MSI and MSP files, as well as an issue in Microsoft HoloLens with tracking and device calibration that has affected some users.

This update will be downloaded and installed automatically from Windows Update. To get the standalone package for this update, go to the Microsoft Update Catalog

Intel Teases Its New Intel Graphics UI - tech
(hx) 06:41 PM CET - Mar,12 2019 - Post a comment / read (7)
Intel has released a teaser video that shows off the new Intel Graphics UI with an announcement of "Coming this month."

 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,11 2019 - tech
NVIDIA Ceases Support for 3DVision, Mobile Kepler - tech
(hx) 10:40 PM CET - Mar,11 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
NVIDIA via a customer help post has announced that their 3DVision work will be ceasing come April 2019. Release 418 of NVIDIA's GeForce Game Ready Drivers, and all other driver packages, will cease to provide support and improvements to 3DVision across the titles that are already covered by the technology. Users who want to keep 3DVision support will have to stay with the 418 release. Extended support for issues already present in the latest 3DVision release will still be granted support by NVIDIA until April 2020. Like 3D TVs, mobile and desktop computers with 3D-capable screens have dwindled to almost zero in recent years, with the technology proving to be more of a novelty than an actual addition to users' computing experience. The NVIDIA support post also states that driver support for their Kepler-based graphics cards will cease as of April 2019. Desktop Kepler is still supported.
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,07 2019 - tech
Windows 10 KB4482887 update can degrade graphics - tech
(hx) 03:37 PM CET - Mar,07 2019 - Post a comment / read (7)
On March 1st, Microsoft released a brand new update for Windows 10 that brought a number of quality improvements. However, and after various reports, Microsoft has confirmed that this latest update can degrade graphics and mouse performance in certain games (like for example Destiny 2). Microsoft claimed that it’s currently working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release. Still, and as a workaround, PC gamers can uninstall KB4482887 to regain performance. Microsoft has not explained/detailed the reasons behind this performance degradation. Moreover, this issue may not affect everyone therefore I strongly suggest uninstalling this update only if you are experiencing worse performance in your favourite games after applying it.

Update: As discovered by WindowsLatest, Microsoft has updated the KB4482887 support page to add two additional known issues that address performance degradation, as well as an issue with using MSI or MSP files, they are as follows:
Symptom Workaround

After installing this update, users may receive “Error 1309” while installing or uninstalling certain types of MSI and MSP files.

Ignore the error.

Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.
After installing KB4482887, users may notice graphics and mouse performance degradation with desktop gaming when playing certain games (eg: Destiny 2).

Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

As a short-term resolution, users can uninstall KB4482887 to regain performance.
Microsoft suggests that users ignore the Error 1309 message, which will be fixed "in an upcoming release", as for the graphics and mouse issues in certain games like Destiny 2, the company advises that users uninstall the KB4482887 update as a short-term solution if they can't wait for an update. To uninstall the KB4482887 update, open Settings (from the Start menu, or 'All settings' from the action center slide out) select Update & Security, then click on the "View update history" link on the Windows Update page, then the "Uninstall updates" link; the classic Control Panel will open, after which you can select the KB4482887 update and right click to uninstall it.
Highlights of the Microsoft HoloLens 2 Presentation - tech
(hx) 10:00 AM CET - Mar,07 2019 - Post a comment
CNET has released a highlights video of the Microsoft HoloLens 2 presentation at the Mobile World Conference. The video shows some of the forward thinking solutions that Microsoft engineers have been working on for years to make working with holograms feel like interacting with objects in the real world.

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.3.1 Driver - tech
(hx) 12:19 AM CET - Mar,07 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
AMD today released the latest version of their Radeon Adrenalin 2019 Drivers. Version 19.3.1 is game-ready for the release of Devil May Cry 5, promising an "up to 4%" performance improvement in that title, with a Vega 64 graphics card. High-profile fixes include fixes for Radeon WattMan on Radeon VII, mouse lag or system slowdown with one of multiple displays shut off, black screen issues with Acer's KG251Q display, and corrupted video on an HDR display.
Support For
  • Devil May Cry 5
  • Up to 4% average performance gains with AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.3.1 vs 19.2.3 on Devil May Cry 5 with Radeon RX Vega 64. RS-287
Fixed Issues
  • Radeon WattMan settings changes may intermittently not apply on AMD Radeon VII.
  • Mouse lag or system slowdown is observed for extended periods of time with two or more displays connected and one display switched off.
  • ACER KG251Q display may experience a black screen when connected via DisplayPort and enabled at 240hz.
  • Video playback may become green or experience corruption when dragging the Movies and TV application to an HDR enabled display.
Known Issues
  • Rainbow Six Siege may experience intermittent corruption or flickering on some game textures during gameplay.
  • Mouse cursors may disappear or move out of the boundary of the top of a display on AMD Ryzen Mobile Processors with Radeon Vega Graphics.
  • Modifying memory clocks on Radeon VII in Radeon Wattman may intermittently result in memory clocks becoming locked at 800Mhz.
  • Changes made in Radeon WattMan settings via Radeon Overlay may sometimes not save or take effect once Radeon Overlay is closed.
  • Performance metrics overlay and Radeon WattMan gauges may experience inaccurate fluctuating readings on AMD Radeon VII.
  • Some Mobile or Hybrid Graphics system configurations may intermittently experience green flicker when moving the mouse over YouTube videos in Chrome web browser.
Footnotes
Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of March 1, 2019 8GB Radeon RX Vega 64, on a test system comprising of Intel i7 7700K CPU (4.2 GHz), 16GB DDR4 memory, and Windows 10x64PC manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. While running Devil May Cry 5 on Ultra presets at 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels), Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.2.3 scored 69.5 FPS, while Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.3.1 scored 72.0 FPS. Therefore, in the above comparison, Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.3.1 shows 4% greater performance, in Devil May Cry 5. All scores are an average of 3 runs with the same settings. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. RS-287
 Gameguru Mania News - Mar,05 2019 - tech
Nvidia 419.35 WHQL driver optimizes Apex Legends - tech
(hx) 07:45 PM CET - Mar,05 2019 - Post a comment / read (1)
Nvidia today released the GeForce Game Ready WHQL-certified 419.35 drivers, bringing optimizations for the 50-million-strong Apex Legends, Devil May Cry 5, which is releasing in three days, and Tom Clancy's The Division 2, which is due for a release on March 15. This driver also brings three more monitors under the G-Sync Compatible umbrella. There's also added support for CUDA 10.1 and an update to version 8.1.951.0 of the NVIDIA Control Panel bundled with this update. A few major issues have been fixed with this update, some of which have been around for a while, including one that caused the 'NvDisplay.Container.exe' process to have a consistently high CPU usage. Here's everything that's fixed:
  • [G-SYNC]: With a G-SYNC and G-SYNC Compatible display connected in clone mode, flashing occurs on games played on the G-SYNC display with G-SYNC enabled. [200482157]
  • [Apex Legends]: DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG error message may appear and then the game crashes.[2503360]
  • [Hitman 2]: Pixelated corruption appears in the game. [2504274]
  • [Batman: Arkham Origins]: PhysX fog renders incorrectly [2451459]
  • [GeForce RTX 2080][PhysX][Assassin’s Creed 4 - Black Flag]: Smoke dispersal appears accelerated. [2498928]
  • Microsoft.Photos.exe randomly crashes. [200496899]
  • NVDisplay.Container.exe causes high CPU usage. [200496099]
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    In related news, Nvidia just launched the "RTX Triple Threat" game bundle with what may be the best RTX-enabled game to date. Nvidia's previous "Game On Bundle" gave buyers Battlefield V and Anthem for free, but starting today, anyone who buys a RTX 2080 or 2080 TI will get Metro Exodus as well. RTX 2070 and 2060 buyers will get to pick 2 of the 3 games, but sadly, the recently released 1660 TI isn't part of this particular bundle.
    New Security Vulnerability Found Affecting Intel CPUs - tech
    (hx) 07:41 PM CET - Mar,05 2019 - Post a comment / read (5)
    A new security vulnerability has been found that only affects Intel CPUs - AMD users need not concern regarding this issue. Dubbed Spoiler, the newfound security vulnerability was discovered by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partnership with the University of Lübeck, and affects all Intel CPUs since the introduction of their Core architecture. This vulnerability too affects Intel's speculative execution design, and according to the researchers, works independent of OS, virtual machine, or sandboxed environments. As the researchers explain, Intel's speculative execution of certain memory workloads requires the full physical address bits for the information in memory to be known, which could allow for the full address to be available in user space - allowing for privilege escalation and other microarchitectural attacks. According to the researchers, a software solution to this problem is impossible, which means this is yet another silicon-level bug that needs to be addressed in future processor designs.
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